RBS and Natwest customers could be charged negative interest rates, reports the Independent. If the Bank of England cuts the base rate to below zero, 1.3 million business and commercial banking customers could be charged for investing with these banks. ‘Global interest rates remain at very low levels and in some markets are currently negative. Dependent on future market conditions, this could result in us charging interest on credit balances,’ said a letter sent to the companies. Baroness Ros Altmann, the outgoing pensions minister, said that negative rates could be dangerous – if people withdraw money from banks and keep it at home they are more likely to be at risk of crime. The Bank of England was expected to cut the base rate on 14 July; however the Monetary Policy Committee voted overwhelmingly to keep it at 0.5 pc. A rate cut might come after the next meeting of the group in August.
Amazon has won approval from the government to test unmanned delivery aircraft, says the Telegraph, and will soon begin testing its drones in UK airspace. The Civil Aviation Authority has waived some of its regulations to allow the internet behemoth to test its vehicles. One rule which won’t be observed is the one-pilot-per-drone requirement; Amazon is being allowed to have one pilot control multiple vehicles. The drones can take off and land vertically, fly for 10 miles at 400 feet and carry up to 5lb of weight. ‘This announcement strengthens our partnership with the UK and brings Amazon closer to our goal of using drones to safely deliver parcels in 30 minutes to customers in the UK and elsewhere around the world,’ said Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice-president of global innovation policy.
Business expectations are at their lowest since January 2009, according to the Daily Mail, with Britain heading for another recession. 47 pc of firms questioned in the Industrial Trends Survey said they were less optimistic about the UK than before the EU referendum. Investment is also down: building is at -23 pc and machinery at -5 pc. ‘It's clear that a cloud of uncertainty is hovering over industry, post-Brexit,’ said Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI’s chief economist. ‘We see this in weak expectations for new orders, a sharp fall in optimism and a scaling back of investment plans.’
Ofcom has ordered BT to give more autonomy to Openreach, its broadband division. The Guardian reports that the media regulator ordered BT to run Openreach as a legally separate company. Sharon White, the regulator’s chief executive, said that this way all customers – and not just BT ones – would receive equal treatment. This should mean significant investment into broadband infrastructure in the UK: currently only 2 pc of the country gets ultrafast service via fibre-optic cable, compared to 70 pc in Japan.
Patrick Hosking in the Times praises MPs for their investigation into the collapse of HBOS, but worries that financial watchdogs aren’t doing their job. ‘Individual regulators have not been held to quite the same standard as bankers,’ he points out.
Despite the overwhelming worldwide success of Pokemon Go, the game isn’t proving to be a cash cow for its co-makers Nintendo, says the Daily Mail. After the game was launched on 6 July, Nintendo’s value doubled as it was downloaded millions of times. However the tech giant admitted it had only a 13 pc stake in the game and shares subsequently dropped 17.7 pc with £5bn wiped off the value of the company.